Freddie's knowledge of the local countryside allowed us to spend almost all of our time off road and we rode through many villages. The countryside is incredibly lush everywhere and cultivation is in high gear with the arrival of rain. The terrain was very challenging for me as I don't really ride on steep or dangerous trails! The hills were steep and often the trail was a bed of sharp rocks! I felt very relieved to get through the experience without breaking something!
This Western Province of Rwanda is very beautiful. There is a trail, called the Congo Nile Trail, which runs all the way down along the east shore of Lake Kivu and tourists are starting to ride and hike it in increasing numbers. You can spend several days on it and stay in camps and lodges on the way. Today I rode the first section of it.
People are invariably very friendly. Adults and children all call out greetings in many languages. The children were coming and going from school. Adults were all busy tilling the fields, moving goods to market, selling produce and coming to and from Gisenyi. We passed through enormous tea and coffee plantations and saw a very large brewery. Beer is big business here! The locals prepare banana beer and sorghum beer for sale in their local villages. There is a wide selection of commercial beers all brewed in Rwanda.
This was an exciting combination of seeing Rwanda off the main roads, visiting local villages, getting some good exercise and contributing to a nascent tourism industry. We started in fine weather but towards the end got caught out in a thunder and lightning storm. Twice we had to shelter from heavy rain. I managed to get soaked despite this and now have to dry out naturally, in close to 100% humidity, as I travelled very light from Kigali!
No comments:
Post a Comment